Posted on 08/28/2016 10:23:42 AM PDT by Red in Blue PA
‘[A]lmost half (48%) of all U.S. consumers believe bar soaps are covered in germs after use, a feeling that is particularly strong among consumers aged 18-24 (60%), as opposed to just 31% of older consumers aged 65+.’
(Excerpt) Read more at marketwatch.com ...
I think we're related somehow.
What kind of fat do you use. One of my dreams is to make lye soap.
I remember boxes of it that came from my great grandmother’s house and resided under my grandmother’s basement stairs. It was used in big slabs in the basement and sometimes upstairs. Yellow.
Take away their phones and drop them off 10 miles from the city. Sit back and watch the water works.
Don’t hold out much hope for us in WWIII.
One of your dreams is to make lye soap?
Agreed. Give me cheap on sale Suave and VO-5 shampoo. It’s done just fine on my buttocks length hair for the past mumble mumble decades.
Yes, one of my dreams is to make lye soap.
Another is to make several different kinds of cheeses, esp Parmesan wheels
I also want to make laundry detergent again. that was fun.
I would love to learn to make interesting Jams for gifts.
I work better with people, and have been thinking of doing a Saturday morning once or twice a month with friends, learning these things.
That’s great. I remember as a small kid my mother taking me to visit old recreated villages where people dressed in period attire would demonstrate the old crafts. Places like Sturbridge Village and Mystic Seaport. One was in Mass, the other Conn. I don’t recall which was which. I can still smell the sweet aroma of cinnamon in the air from the old bake shop.
Anyway, I loved it. Decades later I went on my own to the Farmer’s Museum in upstate New York, near Cooperstown. Same basic thing there.
LOL!
I am parsimonious. Sounds better than cheap.
I still use it. Got a bar near the utility sink near the garage, and one at the kitchen sink. NOTHING else gets as wide a spectrum of dirt off.
I use bar soap in the shower. I use the liquid soap provided in rest rooms.
My father used Old Spice. He was career Navy. :)
Here is my recipe.
21.5 oz water frozen in cubes
12 oz lye
5lb 7 1/3 oz lard
Best done on a cold day outside..
Freeze the water into cubes
in a porcelan pan slowly melt the fat till it is just about liquid.
Place the ice cubes in a glass pitcher and slowly pour the lye over it. The reaction will melt the ice. Do not splash it on you! If you do, wash the spot with vinegar!
Stir it with a wooden spoon. I use a long wooden shim bought at Lowes, till all the ice is melted and the lye is disolved.
Slowly pour the lye water into the melted fat, stirring constantly. Do not stop stirring as this will cause the fat and lye water to separate.
As the lye and fat mixture cools it will begin to harden. This will take some time depending on how hot you got the fat. This is why I do it outside in winter as it cools quicker.
When you can lift the spoon or shim and leave a string of fat upon the surface of the mix it is ready to pour into cardboard boxes lined with newspaper.
Pour about 1 inch thick. Cover and set in a dark place.
The next day you can score the block into bars with a kitchen knife. Do not attempt to pull out any blocks as it is still soft. Cover and let set for four or five weeks. Then bring it out and break into bars wrapping them in waxed paper.
WARNING! The lye can burn you! Keep some vinegar close to neutralize any spills. Do not attempt to wash off lye with water as this will just make it worse.
The powder form I use for my stainless steel pots and pans. It removes the rainbow effect. I finish up with dish soap and the pans look like new.
Does anybody remember those Burma-Shave signs where they
had several small signs on a road with a different verse
of the same poem on each sign? I can’t remember offhand
any of the poems.
I like to eat “organic” stuff. Actually the best chicken
I’ve ever had was from Whole Foods. I’m sure I paid an arm
& leg for it several years ago. - I also used to buy boxes
of 3 or 4 frozen organic chickens from our local health food
store. That was several years ago, and the box was about
$28 to $30 per box. That’s ancient history, though. Now,
the boxes would probably run twice that much or more. - I
do the best I can now; and have to eat pretty much what is
available. I can’t be a puist.
I mean “purist”.
Twinkie was raised sort of “poor” and we did not have
running water until I was almost a teenager. I washed up
in a pan of water from the well every morning. Brushed my
teeth now and then; wasn’t fanatic about it. Fang is a
fanatic about his daily hairwashing. My hair is so dry I
now only wash it once a week. I still only shower once a
week - my skin is dry as a chip and moisturizer does not
help a lot. I sorta wash up with vinegar water -
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